Digital Millennium Copyright Act
From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.
Passed by Congress in 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is considered the best and most effective law passed by the United States of America since Prohibition. The DMCA, as it has come to be known, is actually a series of laws implementing a series of treaties created by the United Nations.
Before DMCA
Before the DMCA was passed there were effectively no laws regulating pirates or piracy in the United States. As a result, people were free to copy, buy and sell any program they saw fit. Many cable television networks would tape shows from ABC, NBC and CBS and reair them at all hours of the day and night. This strategy created massive publicity for heretofore obscure programming such as Saved by the Bell and The Brady Bunch, but led to major problems elsewhere. For example, with no way of regulating the rebroadcast, reproduction, or other use of the pictures and accounts of their games, Major League Baseball faced bankruptcy. Actors, uncertain of when or if their next paycheck was coming, were forced to take jobs in China, India and Mexico working for peanuts (which many of them were ironically allergic to). Even the 1996 edition of Campaign! was affected when several finalists chose to sing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at the same time. In short, chaos and anarchy reigned on the television screen.
DMCA Takes Hold
The DMCA was passed by unanimous acclamation of Congress, mainly because C-SPAN threatened to drop their usual line-up of Congressional hearings in favor of illegally obtained I Love Lucy episodes. With police finally able to take action against the pirates, the crackdown against illegal music downloaders and other miscreants began. The first person arrested was well-known cable TV operator Ted Turner. At the time, programming on Turner's TBS station consisted entirely of a badly colorized version of It's A Wonderful Life. After many legal threats (and an undocumented donation of $1 billion to the United Nations), Turner agreed to cooperate with the law and began naming other pirates. As a result, programming on stations ranging from MTV2 to the Game Show Network was radically altered. The number and quality of shows vastly improved, with bold programming replacing the reruns of old. By 2000, the DMCA had lived up to its name and wiped the scourge of piracy from the Earth.
The DMCA is so beloved by Americans that whenever a police officer, American Indian, construction worker, biker, and a cowboy get together, they spontaneously burst out into song, singing the praises of the DMCA. This happens most frequently at wedding receptions and sports events.
Criticisms of the DMCA
Umm, no criticisms here. (cautiously glances at the agent from the Department of Homeland Security peering at the monitor)
